Pearl Meyer In the News

“Since it’s a complicated process to attempt to recoup (clawback) money once it has been paid out, a lot of companies, rather than granting things now, are doing it over a longer period of time, so the payments are spread out and they can stop [payments] if needed.”

“While investors probably take issue with any increased personal use of company planes, increased business use of company-owned aircraft isn’t subject to disclosure requirements,” said managing director Deborah Lifshey.

“The world is a lot different than it was last proxy season. As a result, diversity, equity, and inclusion are taking up a lot more bandwidth in boardrooms,” said Jannice Koors, senior managing director and Western region president at Pearl Meyer.

“In a sample of filings from 132 companies, Main Data Group found that 89% revised at least one element of their short- or long-term incentive plans for 2020 or 2021,” said Jannice Koors, a senior managing director and Western region president at executive compensation advisory firm Pearl Meyer.

“A shift in the SEC’s regulatory priorities under the Biden administration could mean changes to certain disclosures, and boards will be asked to provide more information on human capital and possibly need to disclose more in the section of proxy statements specific to the CEO pay ratio,” said Deborah Lifshey, managing director of Pearl Meyer.

“It's difficult to compare supplemental executive retirement plan (SERP) payouts from one executive to another, because there are many ways companies provide retirement pay and all of those components matter in terms of comparison,” said Bill Dixon, a managing director with Pearl Meyer.

“The new [C&DI] doesn’t change anything; for me it complicated matters," said Deborah Lifshey, managing director of Pearl Meyer. "These examples might not be relevant now or months from now. There are gray areas surrounding a lot of these perquisite questions."

“Whether it’s part of the formal [executive incentive pay] program or not, demonstrating how management has performed through the pivot [because of Covid-19] is really going to be important to determine how incentive programs should pay out, if at all,” said Aalap Shah, managing director, Pearl Meyer.

"According to a recent survey from Pearl Meyer and Women Corporate Directors, 35% of boards discuss succession planning for the CEO and his or her direct reports, 20% discuss succession regarding the direct reports to the CEO’s direct reports, and 5% discuss succession planning three or more levels below the CEO."